The Year of the Griffin is the sequel to the Dark Lord of Derkholm, set several years after the abolition of commercial 'fantasy world' tourism from our world The University is now broke, and out of date in terms of what it teaches. The new head, Wizard Corkoran has selected children from wealthy families to fill his own first-year classes, hoping to beg for money. But his students turn out to be more than he expected in oh-so-many ways, and despite the incompetence of their teacher, it falls to them to save the university - and themselves.